An event was held on 7^th May 2025 at Gelli Fechan, near Rhandirmwyn, to demonstrate how Welsh Mountain Ponies can have an important role in land management.  There were members of some meadows groups there, including CMG and the Vale of Glamorgan.  The demo was held just next to the Gwenffrwd-Dinas RSPB reserve, and there was discussion on how Welsh Mountain Ponies could play a significant role in managing the woodland and other areas.

The main presentation was by Dr. Donna Oldbury-Thomas, who was brought up on a Welsh hill farm and works at Coventry University on this project:

https://www.coventry.ac.uk/research/research-directories/projects/2024/harnessing-native-pony-power/

Donna explained how serious a problem hill fires are becoming.  Her main research area is in Carbon science, and she gave us some worrying statistics on the amount of carbon release they cause.  A major hill fire in Scotland’s Flow Country peat bog area in 2019 released as much CO₂ as Scotland’s normal release during the 6 days it was burning – about 700,000 tonnes CO₂ equivalent.  And with the recent dry weather in Wales, we have already had the same area severely damaged by fires in 2025 as in the whole of last year. 

Bracken management will become far more difficult in a couple of years when the use of Glyphosate is likely to be banned.  It may be possible to use Pony power to create firebreaks to limit the spread of wildfires. There were demonstrations of how the ponies can pull small implements made out of reused materials like old tyres, with some of their metal reinforcement exposed on the lower side, which can damage Bracken stems so that in a couple of years it will die.

The Ponies were brought to the event by Peter Morgan of Torcoed Welsh Mountain Ponies, and if you would like to find out more you can find their contact details in the “Links and information, tools and contractors” section of the website.

Mr Peter Morgan – 07976 877436/01792 873575 – torcoed@hotmail.co.uk